My name is Gernot Peter, I am living in Austria near Vienna and I am
interested in doing family research. My ancestors come from Fürstenhut
and Buchwald, and over I collected informations on over 9000 people,
mostly from the Böhmerwald. My great grandmother was born Strunz, 3
uncles and one brother of hers also went to Oshkosh and St. Paul, I
recently found their descendants and they gave me a hint to your homepage.
It makes me very happy to see that also in the US people remember the Böhmerwald!
I go there once or twice a year and it is really nice out there. I have a
lot of pictures of Fürstenhut and I am also taking care of a small Böhmerwald-museum
in Vienna with over 13,000 exhibits (books, photographs, paintings and so
on).

Museum
Brochure

I also have Selbitschka (Selwitschka) in my family tree and might
be able to help you find your ancestors. I know a man (Franz Selwitschka)
from Heinrichsbrunn near Mauth who has collected a lot of information on
the Selwitschka family in Bavaria (who originally came from
Bohemia).

He had information that got my SELWITSCHSKA side of the family back to
about 1775. (PK)

These places of origin were mentioned in Oshkosh
records and I never did any research on them----Slavonia, Koyatonowbolja.

Last month I was contacted by a researcher
from Canada looking for information on the surname PIMISKERN. His
ancestors had gone to Canada after WW II from the village of Kapetanovo. I
searched thru Ellis Island and found Alois PIMISKERN that came from the
village Kapetanovopolje, which is the same name for the German Kapetanovo.
Alois came to America in 1903. He was going to Oshkosh to see his brother
Kantius PIMISKERN at 521 9th Street. On this ship was also the LEHN family
from the same village going to Steelton, PA. During my search I found many
people from this area that went to work in the steel mills at Steelton. I
also found Adel PIMISKERN going to Oshkosh in 1913 to see a
brother-in-law, ? KOLLER?.

Kapetanovo Polje (Kapetanovo), is in
Slavonia. Apparently there was a group of people from the Böhmerwald that
moved to Slavonia.

Other names that came from there include: HABLE, HOPFINGER,
SPANBAUER, KINDERMANN, KÖLBL.

He is:

Konrad Pimiskern pimiskerns@shaw.ca

The
Pimiskerns were the first "forest rangers" of the Bohemian
Forest. Through a system of canals, sections of wood were floated down to
the Danube and sold as fuel. In the 17th century, there was an economic
crisis in the region resulting from decreased fuel log supply. The land
owners (royalty) determined to do a better job of managing the resource so
they created a royal position called the Pimiskern (steward or keeper (pimis)
of the seeds (kern)). The first Pimiskerns were three brothers Spanbauer. By
Konrad Pimiskern, email Nov. 2003

Geography of the Region

History of the Region

Slavonia was part of the duchy of Croatia-Slavonia, which
accepted the king of Hungary as its
overlord as of 1102 AD. Croatia had two bans who were rulers
representing the king: one for
Croatia proper and one for Slavonia, which also had its own diet. Over
time, however, Slavonia,
with the nearby direct influence of Hungary, grew closer to Budapest and
after 1442 started
sending its deputies to the Hungarian diet. Eventually, this caused it to
lose its distinct status.

Slavonia included the city of Zagreb, where a Roman
Catholic diocesan see had been established
in 1093. It was subordinated to the Hungarian archdiocese of Kalocsa.

Like most of its neighbors, Slavonia was conquered by the
Ottoman Empire during the 16th century.
In the Habsburg advance following the Ottoman retreat from Vienna, most of
Slavonia fell to them and
was confirmed by the peace signed at Sremski Karlovci (Karlowitz) in 1699.
The rest of Slavonia was
added at the Peace of Pozarevac (Passarowitz) in 1718. As the region
was now depopulated, the
Habsburg authorities encouraged emigration from other parts of their
Empire; thus did Slavonia become
part of the Danube-Swabian migration.

After the First World War, Slavonia was ceded from Hungary
to the newly-formed Yugoslavia as part
of the Treaty of Trianon (June 4, 1920). It was not absorbed back into
Hungary during the years 1941-44
as other neighboring regions were. Following the Second World War,
Slavonia with Croatia,
Austrian Dalmatia, southern Istria and southern Baranya, but not Syrmia (Srem),
constituted the
state of Croatia within the Yugoslavian nation. As of May 19, 1991, these
areas, including Slavonia, became the new nation of Croatia.

First click anywhere to go to the site, next click the glass link, then
start the tour , then click the Czech Republic. There are small articles
describing the villages from where the author has collected glassware.

More immigrants from Ellis
Island

NAME

ORIGIN

YEAR

TO SEE WHAT RELATIVE

Szrenesak,Emma

Szidurfalva, Hungary

1905

Szrenesak,Stefanie

Szidurfalva, Hungary

1902

Zernczak, Alois

Szidurfalva, Hungary

July 25, 1905

To see Brother in law Josef Blechl

Paulus, Anna

Kuschwarda, Bohemia

1912

Franz Paulus

Springer, Maria

"

1912

"

Hois, Kamilla

"

1912

"

Penzenstadler, Barbara

Szinyak, Hungary

1901

Weiner, Karl

Szidorfalva, Hungary

1905

?

Weiner, Josefa

"

1905

?

Weiner, Terezia

"

1905

?

Szernzak, ?

"

1905

?

Szernzak, ?

"

1905

?

Books I am reading now:

Documents on the Expulsion of the Sudeten Germans; 1953;
Compiled by Dr. Wilhelm K. Thurnwald; Association for the protection
of Sudeten German interests.